Legion of Super-Heroes #41
Legion of Super-Heroes #41 (vol. 3) serves as the climax of Paul Levitz's two-part Char Burrane/Starfinger arc, delivering one of the most consequential injuries in this era of the title: Starfinger's attack on Colossal Boy produces a wound that shadows the character for the remainder of Volume 3's run, making this issue a quiet turning point in how the series treated lasting physical consequences for its heroes. The issue also showcases Sensor Girl and White Witch working in tandem to locate Starfinger's dramatically conceived stellar hideout, a pairing that highlights Levitz's deepening use of Queen Projectra's post-reveal character arc as something more complicated than simple redemption. Set against the backdrop of Polar Boy's still-new and uncertain leadership, the issue captures the mid-period Vol. 3 Legion at its most densely plotted, juggling at least three ongoing subplots — Wildfire and Dawnstar's fraught relationship, Projectra's mounting psychological unraveling, and Starfinger's Bond-villain theatrics — while still delivering a self-contained action climax.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
The issue is part of the third volume of Legion of Super-Heroes, which DC launched in August 1984 on the then-new Baxter paper direct-sales format, separating it from the newsprint Tales of the Legion reprint title. Greg LaRocque had taken over penciling duties from Steve Lightle beginning with issue #16 (November 1985) and was the regular artist throughout this period, working under writer Paul Levitz. The Char Burrane incarnation of Starfinger had been introduced just a year earlier in vol. 3 #29 (December 1986), with Levitz clearly modeling the character as a Bond-style crime lord — a contrast to the Silver Age hypnosis-based original — and this two-parter (#40–41) represents Burrane's longest sustained confrontation with the Legion before his storyline is resolved.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Title: '…Shall Ne'er Burn So Bright' — Part 2 of a two-part Starfinger arc concluding the Char Burrane storyline begun in issue #40.
- Creative team: Script by Paul Levitz; pencils by Greg LaRocque; inks by Mike DeCarlo and Arne Starr; cover by Steve Lightle; colors by Carl Gafford.
- Cover date: December 1987; on-sale date: August 18, 1987. Published in DC's Baxter paper direct-sales format (vol. 3 of the series).
- Char Burrane (Starfinger II) — the second person to hold the Starfinger mantle, introduced in vol. 3 #29 — orchestrates his climactic scheme here, with his base hidden inside a star, before destroying it to escape the Legion.
- First appearance of Starlight and Starbright, Starfinger's two super-powered henchwomen, who are summoned from a microscopic world contained within his ring.
- Starfinger gravely injures Colossal Boy (Gim Allon) during the confrontation — a wound that becomes a long-running subplot through the remainder of Volume 3, marking one of the series' rare sustained uses of lasting physical consequence.
- Sensor Girl (Queen Projectra in disguise) and White Witch combine their abilities to track down Starfinger's stellar lair, demonstrating Levitz's post-revelation use of Projectra as a character whose new powers are still being actively defined.
- The issue runs alongside several concurrent subplots: Polar Boy's insecure tenure as Legion leader, the ongoing Wildfire/Dawnstar emotional entanglement, and the beginning undercurrents of Projectra's psychological destabilization that will deepen in subsequent issues.
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Reprinted in Super-Homem #62 (1989)
Key issues in Legion of Super-Heroes
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